


The Ranch Disaster

by thestanceyg



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 13:14:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5165117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestanceyg/pseuds/thestanceyg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why did Darcy agree to take care of a ranch for a few days?  Worst. Idea. Ever.  (Or is it?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ranch Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> A little late today-sorry! Here's my final birthday week fic. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> This story is inspired by true events.

Darcy stared at the woman in front of her.  “You do realize that I’m just a tutor?” She asked.

“Well, I know that’s what we’ve hired you for, but I thought you might like to do this for us to make up for the lost income while we’re on vacation.”

Darcy looked at the woman and sighed.  She’d like to pretend she wouldn’t miss the $80 this week, but the truth is, she would.  Jane still couldn’t afford to pay her, and, well, they both still needed to eat.  “How about you tell me just what this entails before I say yes,” Darcy finally said, knowing full well that if it wouldn’t interfere with her other tutoring gigs she would be doing this.

“I’ll have the boys take you around the yard and explain,” the woman smiled. “When they’re done, you come back and tell me just what you think.”

Darcy dutifully followed the boys she normally tutored in history and econ around their small ranch.

“Have you ever ridden a horse before?” The older boy asked.

Darcy shook her head.  “Are you forgetting the part where I moved here from the city?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

The boy laughed.  “I was just wondering how much I would have to teach you about each animal.  You won’t have to ride it, but if you’ve never ridden, I probably need to teach you things like how to properly approach and where not to walk.”

Darcy gestured from him to continue, and followed the boys as they discussed the animals and their feeding habits.

Thirty minutes later she was standing back in front of the woman.  “I’ll do it,” she said, wondering just what she had gotten herself into.

***

Two days later, Darcy found herself up at 5 AM to go feel the animals and let the cows out of the pen.  When she got to the ranch, she discovered the water troughs had frozen over in the night.  She sighed and headed to the shed to get out the pick and break apart the ice. It took nearly 45 minutes of hard work, but all the animals now could get to their water.  She was sweating and sticky, and still hadn’t fed any of the animals nor let the cows out.  She got to work hauling the horse feed, then the hay for the alpaca, goats, and sheep.  She spread some feed for the chickens, and then walked over to the cow pen.  she unraveled the heavy chain keeping the gate shut, and pulled the gate open.  The cows just stared.  “Whatever,” she mumbled, tired and hot.  She got back in her truck and set back down the dusty road toward Jane and the little lab they had set up.

“You look disgusting,” Jane yawned as she scribbled into a notebook.

“Says the woman that has been wearing the same pajama pants since Thursday,” Darcy replied.

“Where have you been?” Jane asked.

“I went to take care of that ranch, remember?”

“No,” Jane said frowning.  “I don’t.”

“Yeah, the boys that I tutor on the outskirts of town are on vacation.  Their mom asked me to watch the animals while they were gone.”

“And you said yes?” Jane asked, disbelieving.

“She’s paying me, so yeah,” Darcy said.  “I’d like us to be able to buy food, and this will do that.”

“Do you need help?” Jane asked.

“Are you volunteering?” Darcy countered.

Jane wrinkled her nose.  “Not really.”

“Then I guess I’m fine,” Darcy said.  “I’m going to take a long hot shower, then I’m all yours until my 2 o’clock.”

Jane just waved her off, already caught back up in her notes.

***

Day three was going all right.  Darcy just had to take care of the evening run and then one and a half more days of working the ranch.  She had it down to an art.  The morning took her about an hour and a half because of the frozen water, but the evenings only took about 30 minutes.  So, of course, now that she felt comfortable with the routine, today would be the day things went poorly.

Darcy pulled up to the ranch around 45 minutes to sunset.  There were no outside lights, so she had to make sure she was done before dark or she would need a flashlight to finish up.  She shut the truck off and walked behind the house to find utter chaos.

The first thing she noticed was that the cows had used brute strength to bust into the hay storage and were lazily eating mounds of hay that were strewn about.  Then she realized that the chickens were out.  Apparently the winds during the day had blown the door off the coop.  Darcy groaned.  She had next to no idea how to fix any of this.

“Jane!” she yelled when the scientist finally answered her phone, “Find someone who knows anything about animals and get out here.  This is a disaster!”

“Whoa, slow down,” Jane said.  “What’s wrong?

“The cows broke into the hay storage and threw it everywhere.  The hay is what I use to lure them back into their pen at night so obviously that’s not going to work tonight, and the chickens have escaped the coop!”

“Okay,” Jane said calmly.  “Start by figuring out the chickens and the coop.  I’ll be there soon.”

“Jane?”

“Yeah Darcy?”

“I know you don’t know anything about ranches, so please bring help with you.”

“I’m not stupid,” Jane sighed and then hung up.

Darcy went to the coop and examined the door.  If there were some tools in the shed, she could probably tack the door back on.  It might not be an actual door and might need to be pried off, but that was a problem or the owners, not her.

Darcy gathered all her tools and then got to work rounding up all the chickens to get them back inside before she locked them in.  She would still be able to feed them in their little gated courtyard, they just wouldn’t be accessible for egg collection.

She was chasing down the last chicken (who had pecked at her several times so she was following it with a board and trying to “shoo” it into the coop when Jane pulled up.  She exited the car with a shorter, built man with blond hair.

“Jane, you beautiful goddess,” she called.  “And sir, I don’t know you, but I  already love you.”  Then she cried in victory as the last chicken jumped into the coop, and she immediately got to work nailing the door back in place.

The man and Jane joined her as she was pounding in the third nail.  “So, the cows are the only problem left,” she said.  “I need to get them into the pen, but I’m not sure how.  Then I need to clean up the mess they made.”  She looked up at the sky.  “We’ve probably only got about 15 minutes of light left,” she said, “and this place doesn’t have any exterior lights.  I know where they keep the flashlights though.”  She finished up the fourth and final nail and looked at them.  “Anyone got any ideas?”

“Darcy, this is Clint.  Clint this is Darcy,” Jane said, introducing everyone.  “He’s Shield, but swears he knows animals.”

Clint looked at Jane,  “What I said was I grew up in a circus, and I was all you had.”  Then he turned to Darcy, “And I hope you meant what you said, because I am not an easy man to love.”

Darcy and Jane both gasped.  “Did I say…”  Darcy asked.

“My words?” Clint replied.  “Yes.  So let’s take care of some cows so we can get to know each other.”  Clint wandered over to the horses.  “Is it okay if I ride one, you think?” He asked.

“Umm, yeah, sure,” Darcy replied.  “What’s the plan?”

“I’m going to corral them,” He said simply.  “Any idea which horse is my best bet?”

Darcy pointed to one of the horses, “They just broke that one, so probably not him.”  She pointed to another, “That one is being purchased by someone next week when they get back, so probably not him either.”

“So it’s one of these two,” Clint finished, looking over each horse.  “This one’ll do,” he concluded and then disappeared into the horse shed, coming back with a  saddle.  “Go get the pen ready and then stay out of the way,” he said, mounting the horse.

Darcy scrambled over to the gate and opened it wide.  Then she hurried over to Jane who was well out of the way by the goats.

“Damn,” Jane said as they watched Clint ride and motivate the cows to get back to the pen.  “Well done Darcy.”

“No kidding,” Darcy said, taking in the sheer athleticism Clint displayed.  “Shield, you said?”

“Yeah,” Jane said, making a face.  “Guess he couldn’t be a total winner.”

In no time Clint had the cows locked back in the pen, and the three of them were making short work of the hay mess.  They worked quietly and quickly, finishing just as the last rays of the sun dipped below the horizon.

“So, uhh, I can drive you back,” Darcy said.  “I’m sure Jane won’t miss the company.”

“Not at all!”  Jane said.  “In fact, I really need to get back to the lab.  I have some new ideas about how to attack the equation I’ working on.”

Darcy looked to Clint.  “Sure,” he drawled.  “That sounds good.”

“Take all the time you need!” Jane called from her car.  “I’ll just be working all night.  No need to rush back!”

Darcy turned red and started walking to her truck.  “I’m this way,” she mumbled.

“Wait,” Clint said, tugging on her arm.  “Have you been out here at night?”

“No,” Darcy said.  “I try to get all my work done before the sun goes down.

“Got a blanket in there?” He asked, nodding toward the truck.

“Or course,” Darcy said.

“Grab it.  I want to show you something,” Clint said with a smile.

After grabbing the blanket, Darcy and Clint laid under the starry sky.  She pointed out all the constellations Jane had taught her, and he pulled her close to keep her warm as the night air started to chill.  When it became too cold to stay out under the stars, they went back to the truck and cranked up the heat.  Clint directed Darcy to his hotel.

“So what are you doing out here anyway?” She asked,

“Tony asked me to come talk to Dr. Foster.”

“Tony who?”

“Stark,” he said smirking.  “He wants the two of you to come play in his labs.”

“Both of us?” Darcy asked,

“Welllll,” Clint said, “his exact words were ‘Foster and that waste of a degree she calls an assistant,’ but I like “Hawkeye’s soulmate’ better.”

“Hawkeye,” she said in disbelief.

“I should be offended you didn’t recognize me,” he said.

Darcy’s smile turned sultry, “Let me make it up to you,” she purred, “and maybe you can show me why they call you ‘amazing.’”

Clint smiled and pulled her into his room.  “Oh, we’re going to get along just fine,” he said before pushing her against the closed door and kissing her.


End file.
